Great participation, important news in the work of the 5th International Hosting Forum of XEE

The trends of the global hotel industry in the post-pandemic period were deciphered by the 5th International Hospitality Forum (5th International Hospitality Forum), organized by the Hotel Chamber of Greece, in collaboration with Phocuswright, one of the largest consulting companies in the world. at the Metropolitan Expo last Saturday 27 November.

This leading event-institution for the hotel industry, the opening of which was welcomed by the Minister of Tourism Mr. Vassilis Kikilias, was attended for another year by distinguished representatives of the State, as well as foreign and Greek speakers from some of the leading international hotel brands, the academic community and the consulting industry.

The Forum was held in a hybrid manner and was attended both live and online by more than 1,000 people, from Greece and twenty countries abroad.

It is noted that the 5th International Hospitality Forum entitled: “Hospitality in the post-covid era” had two main thematic sections on new trends in marketing and hotel sales channels, as well as the key role of sustainability in the new reality that is taking shape for Hospitality after the pandemic.

The highlight of the Forum was the discussion that Mr. Sébastien Bazin, President and CEO of Accor, one of the largest hotel organizations in the world, had with Mr. Alexandros Vasilikos, President of the Hotel Chamber of Greece.

Mr. Bazin set the sights on global tourism in early 2023, with the sole exception of the long-distance business travel industry due to the rich alternatives to online dating technology offered by the pandemic. At the same time, he estimated that for flights of up to 4 hours, the sizes will return.

The President and CEO of Accor, after praising Greece, underlined that our country did well this year because it was prepared and started earlier than the other destinations during the season, giving tourists the opportunity to rediscover it, adding that Greece, as and other destinations should stimulate their domestic tourism. In closing, he said that his survival is extremely important for the hotelier businessman during this period of the pandemic and called on Europe and Governments to continue their support for the industry.

During the Forum, the results of Phocuswright’s international research entitled “Drivers of Consumer satisfaction in a renewed travel market” were presented exclusively.

According to Peter O’Connor, Senior Market Analyst of the company, who made the presentation from Australia, due to travel restrictions, the main conclusions of the research are:

a. European travelers are already planning their future trips. Although many of these will take place within their own countries, the planning rate of at least one European trip is quite significant, indicating that travel will now recover definitively over the next 12 months. The trend is for European consumers to travel within Europe now seeking rest and relaxation. They want to spend it, making fewer trips than before, but the logic of value for money remains.

b. There is now a huge growth in a la carte travel, with the vast majority of consumers in all markets choosing to book their own travel as a series of individual items. This is a huge acceleration of a trend that we have been following for several years, but the growing familiarity of consumers with online tools in all aspects of their lives has resulted in a radical change in the way travel is handled.

c. Online Travel Agents still remain the main online booking routes for most markets, with three out of five usually or only booking online trips. However, one of the trends is that an increasing percentage of people prefer the security of an offline customer service representative compared to previous years.

d. General travel searches increase, which provides opportunities for hotels to enhance direct bookings.

e. There is a renewed interest in websites such as TripAdvisor and Destination Management Organizations as reliable sources of information.

The host President of the Hotel Chamber Mr. Alexandros Vasilikos, made after the end of 5ου International Hosting Forum the following statement:

“Great speakers, great news, every year and better. I can say a lot of emotion this year, in an extremely difficult situation, at the beginning of a period full of questions again. Knowing that we have a difficult winter ahead, we focus on the next day, we focus on the big questions and we focus on how we should plan, how we should finance and how we should inspire around the new model of the Greek hotel.

Hospitality before the pandemic and Hospitality after the pandemic are two completely different realities. And that is exactly why we are here. This year’s 5th International Hospitality Forum entitled: “Hospitality in the post-covid era” sums up this need for timely and valid search and approach of the new.

I think the result today was great, many are leaving, I can say excited after the last post of Mr. Bazin, President and CEO of Accor, whom I thank warmly once again for his honorable participation in the Forum.

It’s time to talk differently about Hospitality, it’s time to talk humanly “.

In a statement, on the occasion of the Forum, the Minister of Tourism Mr. Vassilis Kikilias stressed: “It is a great pleasure to be at the 5th International Hospitality Forum, the International Meeting of the “heart of Greek hospitality”. Such important initiatives contribute the most to the National Cause of Tourism. prospects because now, more than ever, as a country, we have the need and the opportunity to be at the forefront.

We are working on global trends and we are coming to marry the upgrade of our tourism product with the modern requirements of the times. We want to connect Greek hospitality with the necessary sustainability. To connect business recovery with social prosperity and corporate responsibility “.

It is noted that the Gold sponsor of the 5th International Hosting Forum was Xenia and silver sponsors: Piraeus Bank, HIT and LYBRA. At the same time the official Aviation Sponsor was AEGEAN Airlines and Hosting Sponsors were: AFEA Travel and Congress and Athens Capital Hotel.